Spark a Movie: Mr and Mrs Smith
by Sparky Army
Summary: Mr and Mrs Sheppard, assassins, good at their job and married, at least until they find out about the other. John/Elizabeth of course.
1. Chapter 1

**Spark-a-Movie**

There are so many brilliant movies out there that just inspire fan fiction and send plot bunnies into a frenzy. The challenge for this venture is to take a blockbuster movie and turn it into a Sparky fan fiction, using the plot as inspiration and adding our own twists and turns.

_Authors Note (Hannah554): This was such an awesome movie and I remember having a million plot bunnies dancing around my head when I first watched it so natually it was one of the first movies I wanted to Sparkify. I hope you enoy it!_

**Mr. and Mrs. Sheppard**

By Hannah554

Chapter One

It was easy enough to get through the lower floor of the building. Crowds of people were moving from one place to another so once he'd gotten through the bathroom window it had been easy. No one had paid any attention to one more face in the crowd. It was now, as he stepped out of the elevator on the third floor, that he was going to find things more difficult. Security was much tighter up here; guards patrolled the halls and anyone who looked out of place was going to get stopped.

So, John made sure he looked in place; walking through the corridor in his suit, briefcase at his side and with a confidence that suggested he'd walked this same, plain white hallway a hundred times before. He got a few glances from the guards, they'd never seen him before, but he just smiled and nodded his head to them and they let him pass without much hesitation. The office wasn't far from the elevator and he managed to reach it without incident - a victory in itself.

There was no point in knocking; being polite was really beyond the point of him coming here so instead he walked straight in. The man he was looking for was sat in his chair. Niam Jones was a corporate tyrant who'd made his fair share of enemies and it seemed one of those enemies had enough money in their pocket to do something about it.

"Can I help you?" Niam questioned, annoyed at the unannounced interruption to whatever work he was doing.

John thought for a moment, he could come up with an excuse for why he was there, ensure this went down without any hiccups but in the end that was just gonna delay the inevitable. He pulled out his gun, the silencer on the end muffling the sound of two gunshots. The bullets hit the surprised Niam in the chest, before he could even call for help, and seconds later the man slumped in his chair dead.

Checking the man's pulse to be sure he was dead John smiled at a job well done. "I'll see myself out."

He turned to head back to the door when there was a knock on it and he cursed inwardly. With the only exit to the room blocked there was only one thing to do: create another exit. He opened the briefcase and took out the C4 he always kept with him for emergencies, this definitely counted. He stuck it to the wall, putting the detonator in quickly and moved to the other side of the room.

The explosion ripped a hole straight through the wall into the next office and John went through the cloud of dust just as the door opened and two guards stormed in. There were several shots that tried to follow him through the hole but they bounced harmlessly off the wall. In the office was another man lying sitting in the corner with a superficial head wound.

"Sorry about that," John said as he left the office and moved quickly down the corridor. One of the guards spotted him and John quickly fired two bullets, killing him almost instantly and allowing John to pass through to the stairwell.

The ground floor was in uproar, the explosion had probably been felt even down here and guards were scrambling to find out what was going on and evacuate everyone. John slipped into the crowd walking out of the building with them, then splitting off and leaving the area.

* * *

She had been given this assignment a few days ago, but rather than risk carrying it out when there was a high chance she'd be caught, she'd waited. It had taken sometime, and a lot of homework, but she'd come up with a plan that was pretty minimal in its risk. Michael Andrews was a wealthy man with a private guard detail that followed him around everywhere, and whenever they were away from his home they were never more than a few steps away from him. For that reason she had waited until he was at home. The guards were everywhere but she could get closer to him here and guarantee no interruption.

Elizabeth rang the doorbell of the huge house, the door opening only seconds later and she was met by the stern face of a guard. A big guy who probably spent the majority of his free time at the gym and was likely packing a few steroids in there too. He looked down at her and she gave him an innocent smile, lacing it with the seduction she was going to need to pull this off.

"Hi, I'm here to see Michael Andrews. I hope I have the right house," she told him putting the same seduction into her voice and brushing back the blonde hair of her wig.

"Who are you, do you have an appointment?" he questioned and she figured the guy must know that Michael didn't have any appointments at this time because she doubted all visitors got this greeting, especially the important ones.

"Well, if I had an appointment it wouldn't be much of a surprise now would it?" she questioned, keeping her smile in place as he looked at her both suspicious and expectant, waiting for an explanation. "I'm a gift, from Steve, his birthday present."

The guard raised an eyebrow but allowed her to step into the house. It had been impressive from the outside but inside was ten times more extravagant. The entrance hall alone was huge, with polished wooden floors and beige painted walls, covered with expensive art, and intricate woodwork on every side. A chandelier hung from the ceiling, crystals hanging from it and refracting the light. She could honestly say she was impressed by the house, it was just a shame about the owner.

"You wait here," the guard told her before he left through a large archway. There were three more guards in the room and she knew there had to be plenty more throughout the house. She gave them a smile and went back to admiring the house.

The guard returned with Michael in tow. The man of the house looked at her, his eyes roaming up and down her body. He walked over to her with a smile that would make her skin crawl if this hadn't been a job, if this wasn't about business.

"It isn't my birthday until next week," Michael said and Elizabeth turned to him seductively.

"Wait until you see what he as in store for you then, I'm just the appetiser," she told him, and he grinned at her and gestured for her to follow him. This was definitely a man who thought with his lower head but she'd known that, she'd also known that with a credible story she'd get in easy.

He led her up the stairs to a large bedroom which, if possible, was more extravagant than the entrance hall had been. The bed was large enough to fit him and several women in which she didn't doubt had happened several times before. The carpet was a rich red and the walls exactly the same. The furniture was all dark wood and the artwork that adorned the walls was probably one of a kind, some of it slightly disturbing though. There were windows across one wall and a door in the centre that led out onto the balcony.

"So how much did Steve have to pay for you then?" Michael questioned and she looked at him with another small smile.

"More than most people get to see in a whole year," she informed him and his grin widened.

"You must be worth it then," he told her leering at her; she swallowed back her disgust and unbuttoned her coat, which until now had kept her covered, and threw it onto the bed. Underneath, she was wearing a mini skirt, a very mini skirt, knee length boots and an unbuttoned shirt tied together above her stomach. The leer changed into all out lust, a hunger that she had been counting on to get her in here with zero chance of being disturbed.

She grabbed a fist full of his shirt and pulled him toward the bed, pushing him down onto it. She knew what this guy was like; he would want to be in control here so she only had a brief window in which to pull this off. She climbed on top of him on the bed and kissed his neck keeping him distracted as her hand went into her coat, finding the feel of cool metal she'd been searching for and pulling it out.

She got back off the bed quickly and pointed the gun at him, the expression on his face changed quickly from the clouded look of pleasure to one of fear. She would have felt bad for him if she didn't know what he'd done: beaten his sister into a hospital after she confronted him about the illegal operations he'd been running. It was his sister's husband that had hired her to do this. Normally she wouldn't know that but the man wanted Michael to know who had sent her.

"I may have lied," she told him, "Steve didn't send me, Joel did."

She allowed the shock, anger and terror to sink in for a moment before she pulled the trigger, a few bullets to the chest and it wasn't long before he was dead. The silencer kept the guards from hearing what she'd done, and they wouldn't come to check on him for a while which gave her plenty of time to slip out. She put her coat back on and went to the door. Below the balcony was the pool area and beyond that was the outer wall. If she timed this right she'd be out with no extra bodies behind her.

The second floor wasn't too high up and she was able to jump down from the balcony onto the nearby table and then onto the floor. The guard was coming around so she hid herself behind the table watching as he passed by before making her way to the wall. She was up and over it in less than a minute, disappearing down the street.

* * *

The report was handed in, brief as it may have been but all his reports were that way, and other than the occasional complaint about the lack of detail, no one had ever seemed overly concerned with it. He parked his car in the garage of his house, closing the door and heading inside where the smell of food greeted him as always. His wife always had dinner on the table at the same time, usually minutes after he got home; she was a stickler for routine.

"You're late," Elizabeth said as she put the last dish on the table and took her seat. She really did hate it when he was late.

"Sorry, I ran into some traffic on the way home," he lied; the truth was it had taken him forever to write the report on his assignment; he just hadn't been in the mood to do it. He dropped a kiss on her cheek before sitting down opposite her at the table.

"Did you have a good day at work?" she questioned, and he nodded his head as he tucked into his food.

"It was interesting, one client made things a little difficult, gave us a tough task but I managed to pull it off," he told her. It was only half lying and whenever possible he kept it to just half lying, there was no need to be any more dishonest with her than he had to be. "Never a boring day in the construction business. How about you?"

"I had a tough assignment as well, I've been working on it for the last few days but the deal came through today," she said. He nodded his head. "Big pay out for the bank which they'll be pretty pleased with."

"How about that trip you said you might have to take, the one the bank was going to send you on?" he questioned. They were always sending her places to do various business deals and transactions with some of their more important clients. He was sure she travelled more than he did even in his line of work.

"It was moved down the priority list and given to someone else, I had some other deals to take care of," she informed him and they fell into an almost uneasy silence. At the beginning of their relationship, even at the beginning of their marriage, they had never run out of things to talk about. Now they constantly had to find ways to fill the silence.

"Dinner's good," John said and Elizabeth smiled and hummed her thanks.

When dinner finally ended Elizabeth went to do her paperwork and John went to watch some television, he figured after a job well done he deserved some down time.

TBC


	2. Chapter 2

**Authors Note: Long wait, I know, I'm evil, feel free to throw things, hope it was worth the wait. **

Chapter 2

John kissed Elizabeth on the cheek as he left the house and she waited until he was gone before going back to her office. She took the data stick that had her report from yesterday's assignment on it and headed to her own car. Headquarters was a fifteen minute drive from the house and once there she had to go through various security measures. She showed her ID card to the guard at the front entrance who allowed her to bypass the metal detectors and go straight to the elevator.

She swiped her card through the panel inside and hit the button for the top floor ten stories up. Stepping out of the elevator she came face to face with the receptionist who waved her on through to the final step in security. A white room with a panel on the side, she stood in front of it and remained still while it scanned her eye. She said her name for the voice activated settings and was finally able to make it through to the office.

It was a large room, desks placed at regular intervals throughout and women moving around in between. There were computers on every desk and more around the sides of the room, there were times when it was like a mad house in here, when there was so much going on it was hard to concentrate. She made her way to her desk, sitting down and immediately slotting the data stick into the side of the computer. She entered a password and the encrypted files that contained her report and the camera footage were sent to the boss, whoever the boss was.

"I take it you were successful yesterday," the woman at the desk opposite said. Teyla was good at this job, probably second only to Elizabeth and that wasn't big headedness talking, it was statistics, Elizabeth had more confirmed kills than anyone else, she'd never failed to get her mark.

"Of course she was," another woman said as she walked over. Laura was relatively new to the business but she was already proving herself, six out of seven kills, the seventh only just managed to get away and was picked off by another agent a few days later. "Does she ever fail?"

"Good point," Teyla replied with a smile.

"What about you?" Elizabeth questioned. "Did you manage to get that woman you were after?"

"Took her out this morning, at about 4am, haven't even had chance to sleep yet but she had this habit of slipping out of her husbands bed in the night to go and meet up with lover boy, guess he's going to have to savour last night because he won't be getting any more of that," Teyla explained and Elizabeth nodded her head. Not every mark they took on was some evil person who'd done unspeakably evil things; some of them were regular people who'd done something to piss of the wrong person. They had their ethics though, no children was one of them and if possible children should be nowhere near the kill.

Elizabeth's computer beeped, a data stream was coming in and once she had it she hit the right keys it decoded the message. It was another assignment, another one that was going to bring in some serious money for the firm and for her, it was also another difficult one, hence why she'd been given it specifically.

She read through the information, a scientist who'd taken information to the police which incriminated the company he worked for. It didn't say what the crime they'd been committing was only that company was willing to pay a lot to make sure that the scientist was silenced. He was in protective custody at the moment, being taken care of as a witness so she'd have to find out where he was being kept. Where was the man's name, there... Rodney McKay.

* * *

The construction yard looked busy, people moving things around, preparing to send materials to constructions sites. It was a good front, made better by the good contracts that they got, it was a working front company and it brought in a bit of extra money for the firm. It meant they could be a little pickier over the jobs they chose. There were several sets of offices; it was all designed to blend in with the construction yard surroundings it had been put in. John walked into his, letting the wooden door swing shut behind him and dropping into the chair behind his desk.

"Congrats," Ronon said from the other side of the small room. "I heard you caused quite a scene at the Delphi office building yesterday."

"And where did you hear that?" John questioned, other Agents weren't supposed to know the specific details of another's mark.

"An explosion in an office building and I wasn't there? It had to be you," Ronon stated. "Besides, I knew you were after a business man, a pretty nasty one and Niam Jones was definitely that."

"I'm gonna have to stop telling you anything about my exploits before I do them," John replied opening the brown envelope on his desk. He already knew what it was, an assignment, they always sent them in these tacky brown envelopes.

"I hope it's a really bad one," Ronon said as he watched him. "I got a real crappy one, some idiot who cheats on his wives, all six of them."

"Six," John repeated.

"Yeah, it's one of the wives that hired us," Ronon told him.

"How do you manage with six wives?" John questioned. "I have enough with just the one."

"How is she anyway?" Ronon asked as though he might actually be interested. He'd met Elizabeth a few times since John had first started seeing her five years ago and the two had never really gotten along. Elizabeth was strict and planned, Ronon was the exact opposite and neither was willing to admit to the benefits of the other's method.

"Same as always," John told him and Ronon smirked, John chose to ignore it.

He looked through the papers he'd been given, all the information they had on his mark which included everything from the name of his high school to the pet he had when he was five, everything except his current location. Rodney McKay was in protective custody being hidden by the police until the upcoming court date for the company he worked for. There was a lot of money in this, probably one of the highest fees John had seen in the ten years he'd been working here. It wasn't going to be an easy assignment but then he preferred the harder ones, he liked a challenge.

* * *

She'd had to follow the officer assigned to McKay for a few hours before she'd been able to find him. He was being kept in a hotel, a pretty expensive one not far from the city centre. She'd made a reservation in the hotel opposite them, not as nice but perfectly positioned for her to get to her mark. She'd worn the blonde wig again on the way in here, she really hated that thing but it helped keep her off the police suspect list. It was sitting on the couch behind her now as she pulled the camera from her bag and set it up to record the mission. The firm liked to see visual confirmation of a kill; they liked to see exactly how it went down and examine the footage for anything useful.

Elizabeth grabbed her rifle loading it and setting up at the window; she'd made sure she got this room when she'd checked in. The window opposite was McKay's, she'd seen a couple of officer's go in and out so she knew he was heavily guarded, hence her decision to take him from here, less mess, less things that could go wrong.

Once she was set up she got comfortable near the window, it could be a long wait before she got a good enough shot and she wasn't going to shoot until she was sure she was going to kill him. The curtains were mostly closed, a sure sign that it was the right room. A quick glance from outside the hotel room door as an officer had walked in had told her that one of them was open slightly, just enough for her to see inside. She watched quietly through the scope and for a while she didn't see anything but shadows moving across the far wall of the room.

Someone stepped into view but she could only see the back of their head. She tightened her grip on the trigger, her finger squeezing it slightly ready to make the shot if she had to. The man turned around, it wasn't her mark, just one of the cops that were assigned to watch the scientist. Her finger relaxed and she went back to waiting, someone went to the door and opened it, shooing away room service, the maid made some gesture she didn't quite catch but left anyway. There was still no sign of McKay but he had to be in there somewhere.

There was noise below, music, she looked down to see a car driving into the hotel parking lot, music blasting out of it so loud she was surprised the occupant wasn't deaf, or maybe they were. She shook her head, it was probably some ignorant teenager who had no respect for the people around them, it was pathetic really. She ignored it, she had to keep her focus on the window or she could miss her chance and with the amount of money this kill was worth there was no way she could afford to miss it.

Another person stepped in front of the window and her finger instinctively tightened on the trigger. She knew immediately it wasn't McKay though, for a start it was a woman, another one of the officers assigned to watch him. She was talking to someone that she couldn't quite see, yet another officer moving to stand next to her. This guy must be pretty important if he had this much protection around him.

It didn't matter though, she had a job to do and at the end of the day McKay would be dead, her company would be paid and a chunk of that money would make its way into her bank account. This was her job, her life, she'd been doing it for nine years now and in that time she'd killed men a lot nicer, a lot more important, a lot more innocent than McKay and she still managed to sleep at night. It was a job, one she was good at.

She adjusted her position slightly to see if she could get a better view of the room, all she saw was another officer standing near the door, still no McKay. It was fine, she was a patient person, she could wait until he made the mistake of stepping in front of the window.

* * *

The music cut off as John turned the car engine off, the hotel was in front of him now. He'd been fortunate to have an acquaintance in the police force, someone who could get him information for a price. He'd slipped the man a few twenties and a few hours later he'd had the location of his mark in his hand. It was an expensive hotel, the kind that took care of your every need with a friendly smile and at the end slapped you with a bill that could probably pay for feeding the world.

He'd been told by his 'informant' in the police force that McKay was being heavily guarded and getting to him wouldn't be easy. John picked up the duffel bag from the side of him and took out his two guns, tucking them both into the back of his pants beneath his jacket where they'd go unnoticed by hotel security. He didn't like to kill cops; he'd avoid it whenever he could after all they were just good men and women doing their duty to protect the innocent. He'd do it if it was necessary though and it seemed that this time it was going to be necessary.

He got out of the car, locking it behind him and heading straight into the hotel. He wasn't worried about the security cameras, a clean up team would come in behind him to get rid of the evidence of his involvement, security footage included. His only concern was his mark and anything that stood in the way of him getting to it. If he lost his focus on that then he increased the chances of him failing and he never failed.

The hotel lobby was the same as the hundreds of others he'd been in, reception desk, smiling staff and couches for those waiting for one thing or another. He nodded his head giving a smile to one of the staff member he passed by and went straight to the elevator pressing the call button. A man walked up next to him, he too stopping to wait for the elevator and John glanced to his side to realise it was a cop, most likely one of those guarding McKay.

The elevator doors opened and they both stepped in, the cop pressed the button for his floor and John pressed the one for the floor above. They stood silently for a moment before John turned to him with a smile.

"Nice day huh?" he questioned and the cop regarded him warily for a second before nodding.

"Yeah, not one you want to spend inside," he replied and John smirked.

"You're working then?" he asked and the cop once again looked at him warily obviously choosing to lie or having been told to.

"Nah, just finished, my cousin's staying here so I thought I'd drop in on the way home," he told him and John resisted the urge to roll his eyes. He'd heard the lies officer's in witness protection told far more times than he cared to count. The truth was anyone who was looking for their witness would see right through it. If they were in the same place as the cops and the witness then the chances were they already knew where the witness was.

The doors slid open and the officer nodded his head to him politely and left. John made a mental note to try not to kill him, he seemed nice. He waited until the elevator doors were almost completely closed before he slipped out and hid himself behind a large plant as the officer walked to the room McKay was being kept in.

This was it.

* * *

The longer she stayed there the harder it was to keep her concentration from wavering. She didn't take her eyes off the room though and whenever she caught her mind wandering she refocused it on the window. She didn't get her 100 percent kill rate by not having the will to be patient, the determination to keep her mind on the task even when it took forever to accomplish. She'd wait until the perfect moment and somewhere in her mind she hoped that this was actually the right place, she hadn't actually seen McKay yet.

She rolled her shoulder, allowing herself only a brief moment to work her muscles before they could start getting stiff. When she looked back through the scope she saw him at last, exactly as he'd looked in his picture. He didn't seem happy, she couldn't hear him but it looked as though he was complaining about something. She tightened her finger on the trigger for what felt like the millionth time and aimed. She would probably only get one shot at this, it had to be a good one, it had to be a kill shot. She aimed for his head which was difficult because he kept moving it but she managed to get her aim right and started to pull the trigger.

The door to the room he was in burst open and a second later there were gun shots. It was a man, she couldn't see his face properly but she could tell it was definitely a man. He was shooting everyone, mostly non lethal shots that would leave the cops incapacitated but also leave one hell of a mess behind. She'd already lost sight of the scientist so she aimed at the newcomer firing a shot but he was moving around so much that she missed and the bullet hit the wall.

He knew she was there now and he dropped to the floor, she couldn't see him anymore and she kept a tight hold of the riffle taking another shot where she thought he might be. A hand appeared at the bottom of the window and started shooting toward her, how the hell had he figured out which window she was at already?

She was forced to drop back away from the window, hitting the floor herself now and only just being missed by the bullets flying her way. Some of them came into the room, lodging themselves in the back wall; others hit the outside of the building. This guy was an idiot, no idea how to pull off a covert operation and that was a key part of this business, not getting caught. He wasn't even looking at where he was firing, just shooting blind.

The scientist was gone and a competing Agent was shooting at her, pinning her down and despite her success rate she knew this was a lost cause. She grabbed for her case and dumped her rifle into it, she had to crawl beneath the window to get the camera stuffing that into the bag as well, there was no time to put things in nicely.

There would already be a commotion in the hotel across from her and it wouldn't be long before it spread to the street. The police would start sealing things off trying to find both shooters; she had to be out of the area before that happened. She grabbed the blonde wig, pulling it over her head and tucking her brown curls into as best she could in the limited time she had. Hopefully the idiot that had screwed this up for her would get caught by the cops, if his half cocked style was anything to go by then they might have him already. If not then she'd have to examine the security footage back at the office, maybe his face was on there.

* * *

The scientist was gone, he hadn't even seen him leave and the shooter across the street was no longer firing. He stood up, keeping his eye on the window he was sure the bullets had come from, it made sense, it was directly opposite the room and was probably the only one that would have been able to see through the partially open curtain. He'd fired a few shots in that direction, he had no idea if he'd hit them or if they'd just cut their losses and got out of there.

It didn't matter, he needed to clear the area, there would be plenty more cops there before long and clean up teams needed to be notified. They'd clean up any mess he'd made, the figurative kind not the literally trashed hotel room he was leaving in his wake. The cop he'd seen in the elevator was lying on the floor in the corner, he was unconscious from a bump on the head he'd taken on the way down but the gun shot was a superficial leg wound, he'd be recovered and back on duty in a few weeks tops.

Leaving the room he slipped the guns back underneath his jacket and walked to the elevator joining the crowd of panicked people that had overheard the commotion. The elevator was already full so he went for the stairs, slipping out of the corridor unnoticed and making his way down to the bottom floor. The hotel lobby was almost as panicked as the upper floor had been, the hotel employees were trying to keep everyone calm while remaining that way themselves.

John didn't pay them any attention; he went straight for the door and with all the fuss going on around him he was able to leave without being stopped. He walked out onto the street, walking away from the entrance just as two police cars pulled up, more would likely follow.

He couldn't believe he hadn't got his mark, he always got his mark and thanks to the interference from whoever that had been with the rifle he now had to go back to the office with his less than perfect kill rate. He'd have to get him later, there was no way some sniper hiding in a different building was going to ruin his success rate. Across the street was the hotel the shooter had been in, he looked up to where the window was, even from ground level he could see the bullet marks he'd left in the building, he could only hope he'd hit the shooter too. He figured it was most likely a competing Agent; the scientist's former employer had probably hired a couple of firms to make sure the job got done. The idiots obviously didn't realise that that's when things got messy. Having more than one Agent after the same mark was always going to end in disaster even if the two were from the same firm, competing Agents, those from different firms, that was never going to end well.

Someone came running out of the building, a blonde with a large bag and there was something familiar about her. He crossed the street to get a closer look at her as she made her way to her car; she opened the back door, putting the bag in the back seat before climbing into the front. She looked around her and that's when he saw it, that blonde looked one hell of a lot like his brunette wife. It was Elizabeth's face, Elizabeth's eyes, hell those were the earrings he'd bought her last Christmas.

What would Elizabeth be doing here? Why would she be a blonde? He shook his head, no, he had to be wrong, there was no way... was there?

TBC


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3

She hated walking into the office knowing that she'd failed to get her mark; she never failed, at least not until today. Whoever that idiot was, if he hadn't been killed or caught by the police then she was going to kill him herself. The office had of course already been notified of the completely botched mission and there were analysts there waiting to get their hands on the camera footage. She passed through the security measures quickly and handed the small disk over as soon as she stepped into the office.

The woman that took it from her had been there almost as long as Elizabeth had; she'd wanted to be an assassin but hadn't had the skill for it. Instead she'd wound up on the analysts team holding a grudge against anyone who made a good assassin, Elizabeth was one of those at the top of her hate list. She looked cheerfully smug as she took the disk and headed over to where the analysts were waiting with their very clever computers. Elizabeth walked along behind her at a much slower pace, Teyla moved to stand beside her looking sympathetic.

The footage came onto several screens but Elizabeth focused on the largest one, it showed the hotel window, the small gap in the curtains she'd been looking through. It showed the few officers that stepped into view, the shadows moving across the wall.

"Skip forward," Elizabeth instructed, she'd already watched all of this once and she didn't care to do it again.

The footage moved quicker until Elizabeth saw the scientist step into the gap between the curtains and she told the analysts to stop and play at normal speed. She didn't look at the scientist; her attention was solely on the door which in a moment was going to burst open. Exactly as she remembered a man kicked the door open, moving quickly as he started shooting. Unfortunately even the camera hadn't got a clear look at his face and though one of the analysts said they would enhance the image they didn't sound hopeful.

The miserably failed mission continued to play through as Elizabeth started shooting at the intruder and missed. The man dropped to the floor and a few seconds later his arm appeared at the bottom of the window, his hand holding a gun which immediately fired in her direction. That was the last thing she'd seen at the time, she'd dropped down below the window to avoid being shot and hadn't been able to get back up again.

"He figured out where you were pretty quick," Teyla commented.

"Makes sense, there was only one window with a decent view of the room and I was on the other side of it," Elizabeth replied as the footage was paused.

"I can see the top of a head, try zooming in and enhancing that part of the image," one of the analysts said. On the large screen the image zoomed in on a head of black hair, that was all that was visible though, just the very top of the guys head and his arm.

"Zoom in on the arm," Elizabeth ordered knowing she had to be wrong. The analysts did as they were told and Elizabeth saw it. The watch, it was the same as John's, it could be passed off as a coincidence except that the strap had been custom made for him, the name of his favourite football team was written across it. The jacket looked like his too, the same one he was wearing when he'd left that morning. That hair was the same as his, the same unruly mess.

It didn't mean anything, there had to be a hundred people in this city who had that jacket and probably more that supported the same team. There was no way it was John, he worked for a construction company, she'd been to his office before and it had definitely not been one that belonged to an assassin. That said, from the outside no one would know that this place belonged to a firm of assassins either.

"Are you alright?" Teyla asked and after a moment of trying to sort out the chaos that her thoughts had just turned into she turned to the slightly younger assassin.

"I'm fine," she said suddenly feeling the exact opposite, she had to be wrong.

* * *

As always John parked the car in the garage only this time he did it warily. He was tempted to park his car out in the driveway, a quick method of escape if it was needed. This was ridiculous, his wife was not an assassin; he was just getting paranoid. For a start the woman he'd seen was a blonde and there had to be plenty of other women who owned those earrings, he wasn't even sure she'd been wearing them today; she had a lot of earrings. He got out of his car and went into the house, outside the window the street was dark, perfect for disappearing into if he had to.

"Honey, I'm home," he called into the house noticing the edginess to his own voice and pushing it aside. He walked through to the dining room where Elizabeth was setting the table, same as always.

"Hi," she greeted with a smile and was it him or was she staring at him, studying him? "Dinner's almost ready."

"Smells good," he stated giving himself a mental shake. He watched as she walked back into the kitchen started putting food onto various plates. She picked up a large knife and John felt his heart skip a beat, he moved quickly to take the knife from her hand under the guise of helping out. "Allow me."

She gave him a grateful smile but it seemed to lack the sincerity it would usually have. It was a rare thing that he helped out in the kitchen but when he did she was usually grateful for the help. Normally she would make some comment about him not making a mess of her kitchen or ruining her food. There was nothing this time though just the half smile as she turned to carry some plates to the table and he noticed then that she was wearing the earrings he'd bought her. It was like they were walking on eggshells as they finished setting the table but eventually they both sat down to eat. John had kept the knife near him subtly putting it next to him at the table.

"So how was work?" he asked her and she gave him another one of those half smiles.

"I ran into a little trouble today actually. There was an interruption while I was carrying out a transaction, the whole deal went bad," she told him her tone was laced with hidden meaning but then he couldn't be sure his own mind hadn't put it there.

"I'm sorry to hear that," he replied.

"It's fine, I'm sure the deal will be taken care of, I just missed the better opportunity to carry it out," she stated and he nodded his head.

"Was it an important deal?" he questioned.

"Very, would have brought in a lot of money, still will if I have anything to say about it," she said. "What about you, did you have a good day?"

"I had some trouble too, a bit of a mix up but I'm not entirely sure what happened yet, I have a feeling someone hired two companies to do the same job," he informed her and she raised an eyebrow. "It's a good job though, worth a lot of money."

"That's a shame," Elizabeth stated they both stared at each other for several long moments. Understanding passed between them but not the good kind, it was a confirmation of what they were both obviously thinking.

They jumped up from the table at the same time going in opposite directions. John went to the living room opening a drawer in the dark wood cabinet and pulling out the gun he had taped to the bottom. He debated his options, shoot her, talk to her or get the hell out of here, he had to admit the last option sounded the most appealing. Pointing the gun in front of him he walked down the corridor toward the dining room watching warily. He heard the sound of a car engine outside and figured Elizabeth had already chosen the latter option.

He ran out the front door in time to see Elizabeth reversing down onto the street, both hands were on the steering wheel a gun held in one of them. The car stopped when it reached the road and Elizabeth's eyes locked with his, there was no doubt anymore as to who they both were. She accelerated down the street and he tried to go after her but even he couldn't outrun a car.

Now what the hell was he supposed to do?

* * *

Elizabeth knocked on the door in front of her. She looked up and down the street warily even thought she knew she'd lost John back at the house. It felt like forever before a light came on behind the door and it opened. Teyla looked tired and Elizabeth realised it had to be getting late, she'd been driving around for hours trying to figure out what to do.

"Elizabeth, what are you doing here, what's wrong?" Teyla questioned her concern immediately apparent.

"I'm sorry Teyla, I didn't know where else to go," she told her friend, Teyla was probably the closest thing she had to that. Teyla stepped back and gestured for Elizabeth to come in closing the door behind her.

"This way," she said and led her through to the living room. She sat down on the couch and Elizabeth sat next to her still trying to make sense of her muddled thoughts, of everything. "Tell me what happened."

"It was John," she blurted out, it was the first time she'd actually said it, allowed herself to truly acknowledge it. From the look on Teyla's face she needed more explanation. "The competing agent that messed up my mission, it was John."

"You can't be serious," Teyla said after a stunned silence.

"I am," Elizabeth replied and then sighed in frustration dropping her head into her hands. "How could I have been so stupid?"

"You couldn't have known," Teyla tried to reassure her placing a hand on her back soothingly. "I've met John several times and I would never have guessed he was actually an assassin. We have covers for a reason."

"I'm married to him Teyla, I should have known," Elizabeth responded angrily and then sighed again. "Sorry."

"It's okay, I think you're entitled to a good yell," Teyla told her "Do you think he knew?"

"What are the odds that he didn't?" she questioned. It was pretty unlikely that he just happened to marry a rival agent.

"So you think you were a mark," Teyla said, it was a statement now not a question and Elizabeth just wanted to scream at the entire situation, unfortunately that wouldn't help anything, it would probably just make her headache a lot worse and give Teyla one. "I guess it makes sense. You're one of the best assassins we have and you work for one of the best firms in the business."

Elizabeth nodded, that was exactly what she'd been thinking while she'd been driving around trying to figure this out. The more she thought about it the more she decided this couldn't be a coincidence, the odds of that were too small to be worth thinking about. She just couldn't understand how she hadn't seen through his act.

"What are you going to do?" Teyla asked and Elizabeth shrugged.

"Get him before he gets me," she said. She wasn't going to be taken down by a rival assassin, especially not one who had already made a mockery of her.

"Alright," Teyla replied. "Then that's what you do. You find him and you kill him, you're good at that."

"Yes, I am."

* * *

The door opened and John walked straight passed Ronon into his house. It had taken him some time but he'd come to the conclusion that he couldn't stay a home; it had taken him even longer to decide to come here. As soon as he told someone then this whole thing became very real.

"Come in John," Ronon said sarcastically as he followed him though to the living room.

"It was Elizabeth, the competing Agent that shot at me... Elizabeth shot at me," John began to ramble the last part only just dawning on him. "I can't believe my wife shot me."

"What the hell are you talking about?" Ronon questioned in confusion.

"The competing agent that screwed up my kill today was Elizabeth," John managed to say finding some composure.

"I never did like her," Ronon stated after a moment and John glared at him as much out of habit as anything else. "Are you sure?"

John thought back to the blonde that had run out of the hotel, to Elizabeth speeding away from the house; gun in hand. "Pretty darn."

"You do realise you just turned my house into a target right, they found _you_ out not me," Ronon told him and John kept his glare in check. Ronon was probably the only friend he had right now, the only person he could trust. For all he knew the neighbours were undercover assassins, come to think of it they were pretty nosey.

"I wasn't followed, Elizabeth sped off in her car as soon as she realised I knew who she was," John assured him.

"What are you so worried about, I don't see the problem, she's a competing agent, kill her," Ronon instructed as though it would really be that simple.

"She's also my wife," John pointed out. "You ought to know that you were best man at our wedding."

"Didn't like her then either," Ronon told him and this time John didn't bother to hold back his glare. Ronon sighed "Look, she and whatever company she works for have probably been having a good laugh at you for years."

"You think she knew?" John questioned, he'd been hoping that wasn't the case.

"Come on, you're one of the best assassins in the business, do you really thin it's just a coincidence that she married you?" Ronon questioned back. "They've probably been having a good laugh at you for years," he repeated which did nothing to make John feel any better. "Now what are you gonna do about it?"

"What I have to," John told him and Ronon nodded.

"In the mean time, my couch is your couch, just try not to get me killed," Ronon said and then left the room returning a moment later with a blanket and pillow dropping them onto the couch. "Now I'm going to bed, I gotta go kill that bigamist tomorrow."

"Good luck with that," John called after him as he left the room.

"Yeah, have fun killing your wife," he shouted back.

John dropped onto the couch with a sigh, how could he not have known? He had fallen for her act completely. He was supposed to be good at this job but he'd been made, marked and married an assassin without ever even getting suspicious of her. She was good, he had to give her that but damn it he was going to be better. He hoped they'd had a real good laugh because they weren't going to be laughing anymore; he was done looking like a clown for them.

* * *

He'd only been to Elizabeth's office building a couple of times before but nothing had ever looked wrong to him. He knew that Elizabeth's firm occupied the top floor and there were probably a fair few security precautions between him and there. He'd never actually been passed the lobby so he was just gonna have to make it up as he went along for the most part. He'd been to the city hall that morning and got the blue prints for this building which was gonna go a long way to helping him.

He needed to get passed the lobby first though; everyone here had to get passed either the metal detectors or the guards post. For that he'd come up with a genius idea, he'd hired a slightly drunk teenager who probably should have been in school. Standing to the side of the doors he kept mostly out of sight as the teen walked in pretending to be more drunk than he actually was. He stumbled toward a woman who had been about to pass the guards desk waiting behind the two men that were in front of her. He knocked into her and they both almost fell to the ground as the guards came over and grabbed him. He was shouting his protest every step of the way as they dragged him from the building. With a smirk John followed him out and found him in an alley around the corner.

"Nicely done," John said taking the ID card the kid had swiped from the woman and handing him a twenty.

"No problem," the kid slurred and then ran off probably to buy more booze.

John substituted the picture in the ID card with his own grimacing as he realised his name was Mildred; the kid couldn't have got a card from a guy? It didn't matter, he'd been watching the guards for a while and they weren't looking all that closely at the IDs, just making sure that everyone who passed through the guard's station instead of the metal detectors had one. Going back into the building he made is passed the guards desk easily, they barely glanced at the ID before they waved him on.

He stopped by the elevator as he saw one of Elizabeth's friends, a woman he'd only met once before, and Laura had seemed so nice. He watched her step into the elevator and rather than just hitting the button for the top floor she hit a sequence of them. The top floor must have a pass code for it which meant there were probably cameras linked up in there too. There probably wasn't anyone watching them full time but it would be a stupid risk to take. The stairwell was next to the elevators and though he knew it wouldn't be that much easier it might at least get him closer to his target. His mind made up he moved to the stairs going up one flight after another quickly. Even before he reached the top he could see the number pad on the door and the camera in the corner pointing at it.

The floor below was owned by a different company, one that didn't have a reason to pass code protect their offices so he went through the door there. The sign in the corridor read 'Ocean Insurance' and John was reminded that he needed to take Elizabeth's name off his life insurance policy; he didn't want her getting a pay day if she managed to kill him. He moved along trying to remember the blue prints he'd seen a few hours ago, he'd looked closely at this floor knowing he might need to come through here at some point. The bathroom was on his right so he headed in there spotting the ventilation shaft easily. He wasn't a big fan of homework but sometimes it really did help.

He pulled the front off and grabbed his torch from his pocket using the sink to lift himself into the shaft. It was pretty cramped inside but there was enough room for him to shimmy through, he just had to remember the blue prints. He half crawled, half slid through the shaft making a few turns until he reached the part that turned upward to the next floor. Using his hands, knees and feet he was able to move up albeit very slowly and it was a relief when the vent became horizontal again. At least now he was on the right floor. He'd barely moved a few meters when his cell phone started to ring.

"John Sheppard," he answered rather cheerfully, he already knew who it was.

"Comfortable in there?" Elizabeth's voice questioned.

"Oh very," John replied. "Could do with a bit more colour though, the silver gets kinda boring after the first few meters."

"I'll let management know," she told him and John continued to shimmy through the vent. "I'd turn around and go back if I were you."

"Why, I'm already half way?" John replied, it would take just as long to go back now as it would to keep going forward.

"Stop and go back or we'll be forced to activate the security measures," Elizabeth told him and John stopped to look around him.

"You're gonna kill me anyway, try to at least, why warn me off now just do it," he said still trying to spot these security measures or the sensors that had found him. He really should have thought about that before he jumped in here.

"I'd prefer to shoot you in person," Elizabeth told him.

"Well then get in here and do it," he said and there was a moment of silence before she responded.

"You think I won't kill you?" she questioned.

"I think you won't kill me."

- - -

She couldn't believe he was playing 'chicken' with her, did he really think that after everything he'd done that she wasn't going to kill him? He was either really arrogant or really stupid and after being married to him for so long she reckoned it was probably both. What had he really hoped to achieve by coming here? He'd tried to come right into the middle of the firm's regional headquarters where he'd be surrounded by a few dozen assassins, it just screamed arrogant and stupid.

"John you have ten seconds to start moving backwards or we're going to activate our security measures," she told him. It wouldn't be a pleasant death, there weren't many people, even in this business, that would kill people like that but he was forcing their hand.

"Do you know how hard it was to get this far?" he asked her. "And that was going forward."

"Then turn around," she instructed.

"Elizabeth, I don't know if you've ever been in here but there's no way in hell I can turn around," he replied and she held back her sigh of frustration.

"Then shimmy backwards before we activate the security measures," she said.

"Like I said, it was hard enough getting this far going forward, going backwards doesn't sound like much fun," he told her, the red circle on the building's schematics in front of her still wasn't moving.

What the hell was wrong with him? "And getting burned alive does?"

There was silence on the line. "Burned?"

"Ten seconds John," she stated, she had to remain strong here, stop letting herself get distracted. "Nine, eight, seven, six."

"Would you get on with it already," John said and before Elizabeth could say anything the sensor went dead and the phone line went to static. A rumbling sound tore through the building and behind her the vent cover came flying off the wall followed by a small fire and smoke.

"What the hell did you do?" Elizabeth asked the tech girl whose fingers were still resting on the computer keyboard.

"Oh come on, he was going to die eventually anyway," she said and Elizabeth walked away. She kneeled down next to the vent cover and looked up at the still smoking ventilation shaft. Steal doors would have come down throughout it to seal of the rest of the building, protecting it from the fire but John had still been inside, he would be gone. As she stood up Teyla came to stand next to her placing a hand on her shoulder. Elizabeth pushed back her feelings, this had been the inevitable endgame, he'd made a mockery of her, it had been her or him.

"I'll be back tomorrow," she told Teyla and then left, she didn't really want to be here when they recovered the body.

TBC


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter 4

He'd been playing with fire, literally, but once he'd located the sensor that had picked up his presence it had just been a case of buying a few seconds. She'd given him ten and that had been more than enough. He'd had an assignment a couple of years back, his target had been in a building full of motion, heat and various other sensors as well as security cameras at almost every turn. It had taken days of working with the tech team for him to learn how to trick all of the different sensors he'd come across on that mission. It was a skill that had not only stayed with him since then but one that he'd improved on and he was suddenly very glad for it.

The sensor would have continued to read as though he was still in the shaft where he'd left his jacket but it wouldn't' t have detected him leaving. He'd already been safe in the bathroom of the lower floor when the security measures had been activated though he had to say it had been pretty close. The steal door that blocked off the vent had come down right in front of him as he shimmied backwards out of the shaft.

He still couldn't believe Elizabeth had actually tried to set him on fire; she hadn't even given him until one. Fair enough he'd been goading her on but still, after years of marriage she could have at least given him the full ten seconds, surely he should have been allowed until one. Part of him had hoped that she wouldn't do it; part of him had still hoped he was wrong about her, that she hadn't known all along.

She was sitting in the restaurant now and he'd known she'd come here, at least he knew that much about her if not much else. This was where he'd brought her on their first date, they'd come back here for every anniversary they'd been able to make it for since. She thought he was dead and it seemed she wanted to say her goodbye to him in the same place it had started.

He walked over to her table and sat down in the chair opposite her. Surprise registered on her face for a few moments before she pushed it away and took a sip of the glass of wine she'd been staring at since he'd gotten there twenty minutes ago. This was probably the only chance he'd get to confront her without anyone getting shot, the last chance he'd have to really talk to her.

"I'm impressed," she said with a barely there smile.

"So am I, that security measure of yours is pretty effective," he told her smoothly remaining calm and cold on the outside, he had to or he might not be able to do this.

"Not effective enough apparently," she replied.

"Well don't feel too bad, if I'd still been in the vent I would definitely be toast," he told her and she cocked her head to the side in questioning.

"Want to tell me how you did it?" she asked.

"Not really," he replied. "So what now?"

"I try to kill you, you keep trying to kill me," she told him and this time it was John's turn to raise his eyebrow, what did she mean him _keep_ trying to kill her, she was the only one who'd made an attempt so far. "But I suppose that was your plan anyway, to get your mark."

"Who said you were a mark?" he questioned, this conversation was getting confusing. She'd married her mark thinking that he was also trying to get her? Call him crazy but that just seemed idiotic. "You were never a mark Elizabeth, as far as I was concerned this relationship was real," he stated, he wanted that cleared up straight away. He might be an assassin but in this situation he wasn't the bad guy and he didn't want anyone thinking he was. Elizabeth stared at him a moment and he thought he saw something familiar cross her face but it was gone before he could identify it.

"I have to use the bathroom," she said standing up abruptly and walking away from the table before he could say anything in response. He watched her as she left; walking though the nearby door into the women's toilets, one place she knew he couldn't follow. She was barely in there for a few seconds before two women came running out looking panicked.

He ran to the door debating for only a second before he went through and found the bathroom empty. He placed a hand on the gun tucked into the back of his trousers beneath his jacket as he checked each of the stalls but there was no sign of her, just an open window that was too small for him to slip through but probably just right for Elizabeth. Cursing he ran back out of the bathroom and left the restaurant, he looked around for some sign of Elizabeth but he couldn't see her.

His car was parked just down the street so he ran for that, getting in and starting the engine even before he knew where he was gonna go. He had no idea where Elizabeth would have gone so rather than guess and get it wrong he grabbed his cell phone and dialled her number, it rung a few times before she finally answered. He could hear a car engine in the background so she was obviously driving.

"You're never gonna kill me if you keep running off," he taunted.

"And you're gonna get killed anyway if you keep trying to come after me," she replied and John was silent for a moment.

"Was any of it real?" he asked her. She didn't answer straight away and despite himself he felt a twinge of hope that maybe it hadn't been all about assignment, that maybe some part of it had been real for her too. It was a hope he couldn't shake even though he knew it was just going to get him hurt even more.

"You were a mark, this was an assignment, that's all it ever was," she told him coldly and John nodded his head to himself.

"Okay," he said slowly. "Well then I'm gonna go back to the house and throw out the anniversary present I hid under the clothes in my closet."

"Not if I beat you there," Elizabeth said and the line went dead. John smirked to himself, he'd already been heading for the house, it was just around the corner. The smirk disappeared as he approached their driveway and Elizabeth's car came speeding up behind him. It crashed straight into the back of him before he could turn and sent his car flying past the drive with a jolt that had probably given him whiplash.

He glared at her in his rear view mirror as she turned into the drive way and disappeared into the garage. He parked his car just outside the big white door that she'd closed behind her and opted to go around the back rather than walk right in the front door. There was ivy growing up the side of the building, he could use that to get up the second floor window, it wasn't the first time he'd had to sneak in or out after dark.

* * *

She pushed the car door shut behind her not bothering to make sure it had actually closed as she ran through to the house. She pulled her handgun out of her purse, dropping the bag onto the couch as she ran passed it. He wouldn't be far behind her and she knew he wouldn't be stupid enough to come in the front door so she headed to the window at the back. She couldn't see him though and it was dark enough outside that he could easily be hidden in the shadows aiming for her head. Rather than get shot she moved back from the window trying to remember if there were any other ways he might try to get in.

He'd almost had her; she'd almost believed him in the restaurant when he'd said this had never been an assignment to him. He'd been so sincere, at least he had seemed to be and not only had she almost bought it but she'd wanted to, she'd wanted to believe him. It didn't matter now anyway, he was a competing agent, he'd identified her and company policy dictated she got rid of the security risk. That was why she'd lied to him, because regardless of whether he'd been truthful or not she was going to have to kill him, that and she didn't want him to know he'd hurt her. She didn't want him and the firm he worked for having a good laugh at her, thinking they'd got one over on her and managed to not only trick her into believing this marriage was real but hurt her. At least this way she could keep some of her dignity and remain cold enough to do what she had to.

There was a noise upstairs and Elizabeth cursed inwardly at the knowledge he was already in the house. Clutching her gun tightly in her hand she headed toward the hallway, the lights were out so it was difficult to see and there was no shadow to precede him down the stairs and give him away. She had to rely mostly on hearing, listening intently for his footsteps but not hearing them. She was just starting to wonder if she'd heard a sound up there at all when she saw a foot on the stairs. Waiting for him to come further down so she could get a shot at him she aimed her gun forward. This was it, this was going to be the end, she had to push her thoughts away, she couldn't afford to be distracted by them; if she hesitated she could die.

He came down another step his other foot appearing and a moment later she could see his knees. Another few steps and she'd be able to make a shot that would either kill him or severely injure him, another couple of steps after that and she'd be able to make a guaranteed kill shot. He took another step, then another and she could see just below his chest now. His hands came into view, a gun gripped in them prepared to fire at a moment's notice; she wasn't going to give him the chance.

He was just a few steps from the bottom, a step away from her having a clean shot at his head. He'd obviously either seen something or suspected she was there because rather than step down he dived, dropping himself down the remaining few steps in one leap and rolling back to his feet. His gun aimed in her direction and she didn't even think as she fired toward him, three bullets heading in his direction. He'd been too quick though and she hadn't had time to aim well enough, the bullets missed, lodging themselves in the wall behind him.

"That's three times you've tried to kill me now," he shouted to her as she ducked behind the wall. "I'm starting to become very unconcerned with your well being."

"You didn't seem all that concerned when you were shooting me at the hotel," she called back and there was silence for a moment, probably as he tired to remember what she was talking about.

"Hey, you shot at me first and I had no idea it was you trying to land a sniper's bullet in my head. I was just going about my business trying to kill my mark," he told her.

"Exactly," she said though she doubted it had been loud enough for him to hear it. She shook off the thought and the feelings that came with it, she had to stop letting herself get distracted. Turning back around the corner she spotted him quickly, he was mostly hidden in a doorway but she could see the tip of his shoulder and part of his arm. She fired in that direction as she made for the kitchen, covering herself as she ran.

She was so busy figuring out her next move that she didn't notice him come through the second doorway. It wasn't until she saw caught the movement of him raising his gun in the corner of her eye that she noticed him. There was no time to be surprised or to think, she dove behind the kitchen counter as he fired several bullets at her. She felt a sting of pain in her neck and reached a hand to it to find blood, it wasn't deep but that had been close. The glass fruit bowl that had been on the counter shattered and she felt several shards of glass bounce off her back as she moved across the floor.

There were only three bullets left in her gun now and her spare clip was in her purse. She had to get back to the living room somehow and she only had three bullets to do it with. Damn it, why hadn't she thought about the ammo before, she never screwed up like this. She lifted her head over the counter slightly to try and find out where John was but she couldn't see him. How many bullets had he fired? What gun did he have? She tried to remember if she'd gotten a good enough look at it.

She wasn't going to get anywhere hiding in the kitchen, she had to go out there and take the risk or she was going to run out of bullets and get shot. She stood up, her eyes swept the room and her gun followed them as she moved toward the door. John was no where to be seen as she stepped out into the hallway and moved slowly toward the living room. It was quiet, scarily quiet and she could feel the knot in stomach tightening.

Her purse was in sight now, sitting on the couch exactly where she'd left it. She didn't even get chance to take another step toward it before more bullets came at her from the other entrance to the room, there were too many damn doorways in this house. She managed to duck behind the couch and reached around to grab her purse pulling out the spare ammo clip. Footsteps on the other side of the couch caught her attention so she fired her three bullets toward it hoping to buy herself enough time to reload.

She had to do it quickly, relieved when she was holding a fully loaded weapon again. She obviously didn't know as much about John as she'd thought she did but he was clearly good at this. She heard the click of a gun, he'd reloaded as well and it seemed they had both lost the opportunity that running out of bullets would have provided them with. Looking out from behind the couch she saw him and fired at him straight away trying to make the shots count but he'd seen her as well and disappeared behind the nearby armchair.

A second later bullets came at her again and she had to duck back behind the couch. It didn't stop him though, he fired at her though the couch, the bullets tearing through the fabric and she had to flatten herself to the floor to avoid being hit by them. One of them grazed her arm before she could get down but she had to ignore the pain for now. The gun fire stopped and before she could get up herself a hand grabbed her and pulled her up from the floor. She flung her arm back hitting John in the face with her elbow and he let go of her with a grunt of pain.

She turned around to swing for him again but he caught her hand mid air and kicked her legs out from under her so that he was the only thing stopping her from falling. His gun was still in his other hand and the sight of it reminded her of her own which she'd dropped on the floor by her feet. She regained her footing and twisted herself around so that John couldn't keep his hold on her. Swiping her gun from the floor she turned and pointed it at his head coming face to face with barrel of his gun as well. They were stood mere feet from each other, at this distance there was no missing and any shot would kill.

Her eyes met his, they were both breathing heavily, John had a cut on his head and another on his shoulder from where bullets had come so close they'd left a graze on his skin. She knew she had some of her own, the one on her arm was probably the worst but there was another on her neck, it had only nicked her skin but a few centimetres to the right and she might not be standing there now.

John lowered his weapon and she felt herself panic. "I can't do it," he said dropping his gun to the floor.

"Pick it back up," she ordered him but he didn't move just stared at her. "Pick it up," she shouted more desperately but he shook his head. This could just be an act to get her to lower her weapon, from the way he was looking at her she knew that wasn't true. Damn it, she had to do this, she had to kill him, he was a rival agent, he'd lied to her. The firm had rules and she couldn't break them, he had to be eliminated. She tightened her finger on the trigger but he was still looking at her and she couldn't do it.

He must have seen the change because in the next moment he was closing the distance between them. He grabbed her hand that still held the gun pointing at him and pushed it to the side, crashing his lips to hers. His free hand went around her to pull her closer and she dropped the gun to reach for his face trying to get closer still.

She knew she should have killed him, her firm were going to go crazy when they found out she hadn't but as he backed her against the wall she couldn't make herself care. She'd known if she gave herself chance to think then she wasn't going to be able to do this. He'd put his weapon down though and looked at her with so much sincerity that she hadn't been able to pull the trigger. There was something else in eyes as well; a look she hadn't seen since they'd first gotten married, a look she'd forgotten.

"John," she breathed as his hand slipped under her shirt to find her skin. Any thoughts of repercussions went out of her head as his lips covered hers again.

TBC


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter 5

Steak outs were probably the worst part of the job, at least for him. He hated being stuck in one place, sat around staying out of sight while he waited for something that may or may not happen. He'd been there all night, when the couple had first got home he'd heard a lot of noise, gun shots every ten seconds. He could honestly say he was glad he didn't live in this neighbourhood because the nice neighbours hadn't even called the police about it, that being said his own neighbours had to be the nosiest people he'd ever met, he'd prefer it if they'd just mind their own business occasionally.

He shifted in his seat and opened the window on the opposite side of the car to the house just a crack. He needed to let some fresh air into the car, it smelled like old coffee and the take out he'd brought with him last night. On top of that the car was getting stuffy and it was going to be another hour before his replacement arrived to relieve him.

He hadn't seen or heard anything for a while and he was beginning to suspect the couple had killed each other. He rolled his neck, stretching out muscles that had been stuck in pretty much the same position for far too long. He didn't dare close his eyes, he'd been given this assignment right on the back of another one and he hadn't slept in over a day, if he closed his eyes for more than a second he'd fall asleep.

There was movement in the house, he barely caught it in the corner of his eye but he was sure he'd seen something. He watched closely, he wasn't even sure where the movement had come from but if someone was alive in there he was going to find out. It was the upstairs window, someone walked by it but he didn't quite catch who it was. They passed by again, Elizabeth Weir, she was part way through changing her top and under normal circumstances he would have enjoyed that but he was from the other company, he would have preferred to see Sheppard. If Weir was still alive that meant his company had been the one to lose an Agent, he really didn't like losing.

She was talking to someone which didn't make sense, he'd been there all night and other than the two Agents no one had entered the house. He couldn't see who it was but she smiled at something so he guessed it was someone she knew. That's when Sheppard moved into view, he kissed her neck as he reached behind her for something.

"This is Tomlinson outside the Sheppard house," he said into the radio. "Both Sheppard and Weir are alive and they don't seem to be trying to kill each other anymore."

"Understood," a voice replied. "Assault Team moving in."

"Copy that," he replied, if the Assault Team was on the way then it was probably a good idea to get out of here. They could be quiet and subtle when they wanted to be but with two of the best Agents in the business as their targets they were probably going to make an all out assault on the place. He didn't particularly fancy getting caught in the crossfire. It was time to go home and get some sleep.

* * *

John finished pulling his shirt on as he made his way downstairs, Elizabeth was in what remained of their kitchen trying to find something to eat. John grabbed an apple and sat on a stool as Elizabeth decided she couldn't be bothered with her search and joined him. Last night had been... interesting. He hadn't been able to kill her and he was glad to say she hadn't been able to kill him either, after that it had been like when they'd first met, feelings he'd forgotten he had were suddenly the only things he could think of.

"I lied," she told him and he smirked, he figured she'd probably lied about a lot. "When I said you were just a mark, I didn't even know you were an Agent until I saw the footage from the McKay job."

"And I didn't know you were one until I saw you run out of the hotel across the street as a blonde, interesting look by the way," he told her and she smiled and looked down as he tugged on a strand of her hair. "I prefer the brown."

"Good because I have no intention of becoming a permanent blonde," she stated. "I can't believe I never knew who you were; you'd think being married to you I might have figured it out at some point."

"Yeah, well I thought I was busted six months ago when I came home in a chopper with a stab wound," he stated. "How did you not notice that?"

"I remember you being hurt, you said it was an accident at the construction site, don't recall the chopper though. Wait, was that right after got back from my three day trip?" she questioned and John thought for a minute before nodding. "I took a sleeping pill that night, hadn't had a proper chance to sleep for days and I didn't want to get woken up by you when you came back from wherever you'd been."

"Do you ever have trouble sleeping?" John questioned, "After you take out a mark."

Elizabeth shook her head. "No, I did at the beginning but not for years now."

"Same here," John replied. "You know I think..."

He was cut off by the sound of a small explosion near the front of the house; he was up in a second running through to the lounge for his gun. Elizabeth's was nearby so he grabbed that as well handing it to her as she ran into the room. It had to be his company; if they knew he hadn't taken Elizabeth out they'd do it themselves. There were voices in the house, several of them and he figured it was probably an Assault Team.

"We need to get out of here," he stated and Elizabeth raised an eyebrow at him.

"You think?" she questioned sarcastically. A man came around the corner, gun in hand and John fired at him before he could even register his presence. He looked down at the body, Jeff, and they'd always gotten along so well.

"He's not from my firm," Elizabeth stated.

"No he's from mine, he owed me money too, kicked his ass at pool last week," John told her as he took the spare ammo clip from the body. Another two men came running in obviously having heard the shots and Elizabeth shot one before he could fire. The other managed to get off several shots in her direction, John tackled her to the ground, the bullets narrowly missing them both. He fired at the shooter, landing two bullets in his chest. Front and back exits would be covered, so would the garage but Elizabeth's car was still parked inside it so if they could get there and get the garage door open they had a chance.

"Come on," he said grabbing Elizabeth's arm and pulling her up from the floor with him. They shot three more men in the hallway and another two in the garage. John quickly checked the car for a bomb; they wouldn't have had long so if he couldn't see it straight away it would be there. Elizabeth was rummaging through a box she'd pulled out and John sighed as he went over to her. "Elizabeth, it's time to go."

"Just a second," she pulled out a smaller box and opened it to reveal several grenade, God he loved this woman. There was a clattering sound behind them and John turned around to see the smoke bomb rolling toward them. He ran over to the door and pressed the button nearby, the large white door started lifting and John had no doubt it had drawn some attention. Elizabeth pulled the pin on one of the grenades and threw it under the door as John shot the guy running through the other entrance.

They both got into the car, John starting the engine just as there was an explosion and once the door was open enough for him to get the car out he reversed down the driveway narrowly missing his own car. Bullets came flying at their car but it was too late for anyone to stop them now and John sped away down the road. He put his foot down and swerved around the corner parking the car in a driveway and quickly cutting the engine. He and Elizabeth got out and ran to the back of the house, climbing over the fence and running down the quiet street.

If anyone had seen where they'd gone then they weren't following. John stopped by a car parked at the side of the road and smashed the window, unlocking the door he got in and when he didn't find the keys he hotwired it instead. Elizabeth got in the passenger side and they drove away, it probably wouldn't be long before the car was reported stolen and his firm connected it with them but for now it could at least put some distance between them and here.

* * *

Ronon was exactly where John expected him to be, he had breakfast in the same cafe every morning and it seemed this morning was no different. They waited around a while to make sure no one was watching Ronon, anyone who knew him knew Ronon was his friend and probably the only person he'd go to for help. They went inside quickly and sat down at his table; Ronon looked at them both and then sighed.

"Nice to see you John," he greeted. "You look a little rough."

"Long night, bad morning," John explained and Ronon shrugged.

"There's a contract out on both of you now, the firm wants you both dead, $50,000 for each confirmed kill. There's a lot of money sitting at this table right now," Ronon told him.

"You gonna shoot me?" he questioned, he already knew the answer.

"Not today," Ronon replied and then looked at Elizabeth. "Can't say the same for her though, you should have killed her John."

John chose to ignore that. "What's going on, I know why they have a contract on her but why on me?"

"Not just our firm, hers too, every Agent from both firms is looking for the two of you, you're considered as much of a security risk now as she is," Ronon explained and John nodded his head trying to think of something he could do, with that many people after them it was only a matter of time. "Look John, you don't have a lot of options. You can kill her and hope the firm cancels the contract on you or you can run. If the two of you stay together you'll probably be killed, if you separate you stand half a chance. You'll probably get killed anyway but... you'll stand a chance."

John looked at Elizabeth, killing her was definitely not an option so it was going to have to be run but run to where, where could they go that their firms wouldn't find them?

"Have a good laugh did you?" Ronon asked Elizabeth who stiffened slightly at the question.

"I didn't know," she told him.

"Sure you didn't," Ronon replied sarcastically.

"Ronon," John cut in, he'd already had this conversation with Elizabeth and they didn't have time for going in circles. "I need to know where you stand."

"Me?" Ronon questioned. "I'm gonna finish my breakfast, tip the pretty waitress and go catch a movie."

That was as close as Ronon was going to get to admitting he wasn't interested in the contracts on him and Elizabeth. John nodded again and stood up gesturing for Elizabeth to do the same. "We'd better go."

"Good luck John," Ronon said as they walked away, John stopped for a second but didn't turn around before he carried on walking.

* * *

"I hate to admit it but Ronon's right, we do only have three options, kill, run together or run separately, all of which end with the possibility of us dying anyway, some more than others," Elizabeth stated as they sat in the car. They'd driven for a little over twenty minutes to put some distance between them, the cafe and any eyes that might have been on Ronon before they'd parked up. They needed to get another car soon; the firms were probably already trying to find this one.

"We're not splitting up," John ruled out that idea straight away. "I don't plan to kill you either."

"Alright," Elizabeth replied uncertainly. "Then we need a plan because running and probably dying doesn't sound like a good one to me."

"Well, we kill enough of them and they'll stop sending people after us," John stated.

"Shoot everyone, great plan John," Elizabeth replied sarcastically. "You know that is so typical of you, you never think you just make things up as you go along."

"As opposed to you who plans out every little detail of everything, you don't leave any room for anything to surprise you, anything not to go your way," John shot back with as much sarcasm.

"And what exactly is wrong with that?" she questioned. "I apologise if I don't want some idiot to come around a corner and shoot me by surprise."

"The problem is that planning for everything makes life really boring, where's the fun, what about life is interesting?" John countered. "Hell the day we went to the zoo a few years back you planned exactly which animals we were going to visit and in what order. I got close to one of the cages and you told me I should stay at least two feet back from the animals. It was supposed to be a fun day out and you turned it into a planned out operation."

"Don't exaggerate," she told him. "I like to know what I'm going to do, when and how, there's nothing wrong with that and... we're off topic here, let's just call 'shoot everyone' plan B. We need a plan A."

"Fine, got any ideas?" John huffed.

"We have to give them a reason not to come after us, other than we shot all their Agents," she stated thoughtfully. "We give them something they want more than us."

John caught onto her train of thought quickly. "The McKay contract."

"That's right, that contract was worth a fortune to both companies, more than most of the contracts we get. If we can get McKay we can we can make an exchange, his death and all the money for the contract in exchange for our lives. They leave us alone and they get a pay day, they come after us they get a whole lot of dead agents and an expenses list a mile long," Elizabeth explained.

"It could work," John stated and Elizabeth nodded. "We just need to find out where McKay is now."

"I think I can get that information."

* * *

They'd rented a cheep motel room, one they'd been able to pay for with the cash they had on them and without showing any ID. They'd used a fake name and gotten a room that was out of the way but with a good view of the rest of the motel, if they were found they wanted to know about it quick.

Elizabeth's phone rang; she'd contacted Teyla in the hopes that her friend would still be able to use the contact she had within the police to find McKay's current location. Teyla had said she'd try and call her back when she had something, Elizabeth could only hope she'd been able to find McKay, both hers and John's life depended on it. If this didn't work then they'd only have one real option left, run.

"Hello," she answered, wary of who might be on the end of the line.

"It's me," Teyla replied and Elizabeth breathed a sigh of relief. John was sat on the bed watching her, he hadn't been fond of the idea of her calling someone within her firm but he'd trusted her and she trusted Teyla. "I found him, it wasn't easy but between me and my contact we managed to get a location on him."

Elizabeth hastily scribbled down the name and address of the hotel McKay was in and handed the paper to John. "Thank you Teyla, I know you took a risk helping me."

"Anytime," Teyla replied. "Try not to get yourself killed okay."

"That's the goal, bye," Elizabeth said and hung up the phone. John was getting their few things together, his jacket and their guns. She had a stash of weapons, equipment and ammo hidden away in a storage locker; they'd have to make a stop there if they had any hopes of pulling this off.

"Are you sure we can trust Teyla?" John questioned.

"I'd put my life on it," she told him confidently.

He nodded. "Good because that's exactly what's on the line."

* * *

They'd both had to wonder around the hotel for a while before Elizabeth had spotted an officer. He was dressed in plain clothes but she'd been able to tell it was him. It was a hot day, too hot for the jacket the man had been wearing and a very brief glimpse of the gun holstered beneath it had told Elizabeth everything she needed to know. She'd followed him around, careful to stay out of sight and when she'd passed by John she gestured for him to take over following the officer. It had only taken a few minutes of walking in circles before the man had finally stopped and walked into one of the rooms, that had to be the one.

John had met Elizabeth in the car, they'd be better of waiting until dark, the officers would switch shifts as would the hotel employees who might have seen them wondering the halls. They could hopefully get in unnoticed, grab McKay and get out again without too much hassle. Elizabeth had of course planned everything; she'd hacked into the hotel computer system and got a map of the building, air conditioning vents included.

She was obviously sending John crawling through the vent while she got to go in through the door; he hadn't bothered to argue with the plan. They got ready, checked their guns and the radios and by the time they had everything set and Elizabeth had gone through the plan five times it was dark. They went back into the hotel, splitting up as soon as they were through the doors, Elizabeth went to the elevator and John took the stairs up to McKay's floor. He came out right next to the janitor's closet and quickly picked the lock, ducking inside the room before anyone could see him.

The vent was at the back of the room, half blocked by the metal shelving and tonnes of cleaning supplies that were in his way. He dropped most of them on the floor and pushed the shelf to the side so he could get access to the vent. Elizabeth should be getting the card from the maid right about now so he needed to hurry.

He removed the vent cover and threw his bag into the vent climbing up into it. It was narrow and dusty but it would get him to where he needed to go, that was if he could remember the directions Elizabeth had attempted to burn into his memory. A left that and a right, straight forward, another left and another or was it right, no, it was definitely left, then a right and voila, he was here. He could see the hotel room through the vent, the cop he followed was in there, he could see a couple of other people who had the whole cop demeanour. There were probably more of them that he couldn't see if the security around him the last time was anything to go by. He took his gun out of his bag careful not to make any sound that would alert them to his presence.

"I'm outside the door John, just waiting on you," Elizabeth's voice told him through the radio, as soon as she heard the shooting she'd come in. He aimed the gun at one of the cops; it was a shame that they were probably going to have to kill them. It was one thing to leave them alive when all he had to do was kill the target, kidnapping him was a different story though.

He opened the vent slowly cursing when it creaked and immediately drew the attention of the cops. He fired quickly, the first cop dropping and the second following him. He didn't have time to aim at the third cop before he had the man's gun aimed at his head. Before the officer could fire Elizabeth came through the door and put two bullets in him and John took the opportunity to jump down from the vent. Two more cops came running into the room and between him and Elizabeth they took them both out.

Elizabeth went through the door the two cops had just come through and came out a moment later with McKay in tow. The man was complaining about being manhandled but quickly switched to pleading for his life. They both ignored him; they needed to get out of there quickly; there were probably more cops in the building.

They threatened to shoot him right there and then if he didn't shut and that seemed to silence him, at least temporarily. Elizabeth pulled her blonde wig out of her bag and put it on McKay's head despite his protest. John told him he'd also shoot him if he didn't co-operate. Leaving the room they half dragged him along and into the stairwell, they got to the lower floor and out the front door easily enough. With the shifts having just been changed it was easy to get passed the couple of cops who were entering the building. They were so focused on getting to the room that they didn't notice their witness walk right passed them, especially since he was now a blonde.

* * *

They got McKay back to the motel and tied him to a chair in the room; John gagged him after five minutes of listening to him complain whilst he and Elizabeth tried to work out their next move. They'd argued about it for several minutes and it didn't seem to be getting them anywhere.

"I don't see how that'll help John," Elizabeth said. "We can only go to one company and even if they agree not to come after us the other firm has no reason to leave us alone."

Rodney started complaining in the background, trying to talk through the gag. John glanced at him and then turned back to Elizabeth. "We have to try, we haven't got anything else."

"What if we go to both companies, they can split the money between them, since they won't have to pay an Agent anything that'll still be a big pay out for them?" Elizabeth suggested as Rodney continued to complain.

"That might work," he stated and Rodney complained louder. John sighed and walked over to McKay taking the gag off. "What do you want?"

"You can't kill me," he stated.

"Actually we can," John told him and was about to put the gag back on.

"No, you can't, I'm testifying against Biocorp," he replied.

"We already know that, it was in your file," John said and once again tried to put the gag back on but Rodney pulled his head away.

"No, you don't understand, they've been messing with biological weapons, they created a virus that could kill a lot of people and they're selling it to anyone who can pay up," McKay told them, this was why they weren't given too many details on their targets. "If you kill me then they'll get away with it and millions of people could die."

"What makes you think we care?" John questioned, he did care but at the same time this was the only chance he and Elizabeth had. McKay didn't reply and for several moments there was silence in the room.

"Let him go," Elizabeth said.

"What?" John asked, if they let McKay go they had nothing.

"Just let him go John," she repeated and John sighed untying the ropes.

"Go," he said and the man opened his mouth to say something, John had heard all he wanted to from the man. "Go before I change my mind."

McKay ran out of the room taking with him the only leverage he and Elizabeth had over their firms. Elizabeth turned to look at him. "We need a new plan."

TBC


	6. Chapter 6

**Authors Note (Hannah554): So this is the last chapter guys, thanks to everyone who stuck with me and an even bigger thanks to those who took the time to review. I hope you enjoyed the story. **

Chapter 6

Plan A was definitely out the window and Elizabeth didn't seem all that eager to go onto Plan B. John had watched her pace their new motel room for the last half an hour, she hadn't said a word, just paced. He finished cleaning his gun and turned to look at her as she sat down on the edge of the bed and looked at him. He knew what she was thinking before she even said it and there was no way he was agreeing to it.

"No," he said before she could open her mouth. "No Elizabeth."

"I don't think we have a choice John," she replied adamantly. "Ronon was right, if we run together they'll kill us, separate we stand a chance, not a big one but a chance."

"I told you before, we're not splitting up, we'll find another way," he told her and she sighed.

"John..." she began but he cut her off.

"We'll find another way," he repeated firmly.

"Fine, what do you suggest?" she questioned.

"We tried it your way, it didn't work, now we try it my way, plan B," he stated and she looked at him with a raised eyebrow. He met her gaze evenly; he wasn't going to back down from this.

"Alright, we'll try shooting everyone but if it doesn't work... we split up and run," she offered and John had to think for a minute. He wasn't prepared to split up but the truth was if this didn't work one or both of them would probably be dead so it really didn't matter.

"Deal," John agreed.

"So how do we do this?" she questioned and John smiled, he'd already thought about that.

"We can't keep picking them off a few at a time; we need to take them all out at once. We lure them all somewhere, get them all in one place and take out as many as we can, hopefully that'll be enough people that the firms will listen to us," John told her. Elizabeth looked uncertain; she bit her bottom lip and nodded her head slowly.

"This is a really bad plan," she said even as she nodded.

John moved to sit beside her on the bed, he brushed her hair away from her face. "It's the only one we've got," he stated as he kissed her neck. She let out a breath and turned her head to kiss him, it felt too much like goodbye to him and he couldn't help but think that maybe it was. The thought made him kiss her harder, pull her tighter against him.

This had to work.

* * *

They'd used Elizabeth's credit card at a store and then made their way to the warehouse being sure that they walked into the path of several security and traffic cameras along the way. Both firms would have tracked them down with just a little bit of work and whether they suspected a trap or not they'd send squads in to take them both out. John and Elizabeth had armed themselves as best they could; Elizabeth had a semi automatic in her hands, several spare magazines, a handgun tucked into her pants and several knives in various places. John had strapped the shotgun to his back and grabbed the grenades as well as the semi automatic, Elizabeth had rolled her eyes at that, the messier the better as far as he was concerned.

They were hidden in the warehouse; the firms would be monitoring radio frequencies so they'd opted not to use them. John was hidden behind some shelving at the other side of the warehouse; Elizabeth had climbed up onto a pile of boxes and flattened herself across the top. She wished the firms would just hurry up and get on with this, she wasn't the type to get nervous but she'd be lying if she said she wasn't a little concerned about this one, the odds of both of them surviving this were stacked against them.

The warehouse was pretty dark considering it was the middle of the day. The only windows were high up on the wall and covered in dirt, not much light made it through to the inside of the building. That was probably why the door opening was so obvious immediately; it bought with it a new source of light near where John was hidden. She couldn't see him or anyone else passed all the boxes that were piled up everywhere but she could hear the voices of people coming into the building and a minute later the gunfire started.

She resisted the urge to go and help John, remaining where she was until two people appeared around the side of the boxes. They were trying to take cover, firing towards John with their backs to her. She fired at them, taking them both out quickly and revealing her position. Bullets came her way but were stopped a moment later, probably by John. She needed a better view so she carefully stood up keeping her eyes open for any other Agents as she jumped and grabbed the metal beam that ran across the top of the warehouse. She pulled herself onto it; it was wide enough for her to be able to walk along it quickly without risking falling off.

Moving over to where John was she could see at least twenty Agents inside the warehouse and the shadows of more outside. She kept some distance between her and the fire fight, kneeling down on the beam and firing from where she was. It took them some time to pin point where she was and in that time she was able to take out several of them.

Bullets once again came flying in her direction, she tried to duck down but wasn't fast enough. She felt a sharp pain hit her, the force of it knocking her off balance and she fell.

* * *

John continued to fire at the Agents, he knew Elizabeth had moved, she was on the beam above them now and was taking a few of the out from up there. Another man came running through the door and John shot him before he could even become another threat. He fired at two men who were standing close together, taking them both out quickly before aiming at someone using a metal case as cover. John waited until he lifted his head slightly above the case before he fired and the shooter was dead with just the one bullet.

The Agents made Elizabeth's position and fired on her, John tried to take some of them out but he saw Elizabeth fall from the beam. She landed behind the huge pile of boxes in the middle of the room but it wouldn't take long for the Agents to get to her... if she was alive.

He came out from his cover and fired a constant spray of bullets as he ran around the boxes. Elizabeth was pushing herself up from the floor and John ran over and grabbed her arm pulling her up quicker. He ran around the back of more boxes and quickly tore part of his jacket. She'd been hit on her arm, the wound was bleeding a lot but it didn't seem too bad. Elizabeth covered them as John tied the torn piece of fabric around her arm.

"I'm fine," Elizabeth told him when he finished and looked at her. A few Agents came running around the corner and they fired on all of them before they could have the chance to react. John moved over toward the edge of the line of boxes, there were more people coming their way. He grabbed a grenade and pulled the pin, waiting just another second for the Agents to get closer before he threw it and ran back over to Elizabeth. He ducked down, shielding Elizabeth's body with his own as the explosion ripped through the boxes.

"That was a bigger bang than I was expecting," John said as he stood up, the warehouse was eerily quiet.

"How many people did you kill with that?" Elizabeth asked as they looked around the warehouse.

"Not that many... at least I don't think it was," John replied. "There's probably more of them outside."

"Alright, so we shoot our way out and hope we've done enough?" Elizabeth questioned and John glanced at the blood on the fabric he'd wrapped around Elizabeth's arm.

"Yeah."

They made their way to the door and before Elizabeth could step through John threw another grenade. He waited until he heard the explosion before they moved, as he'd hoped, some of the Agents had been killed and others were picking themselves up from the floor. He and Elizabeth fired in opposite directions, running quickly through the middle of their 'would be killers'. They'd left their car nearby so they'd have a quick method of escape; they just had to get to it without being shot.

The assassins recovered enough to return fire, bullets following them as they ran and John felt one graze his leg. He knew it was a superficial wound so he ignored it and kept running. Elizabeth was still beside him when they made it to another warehouse where they'd hidden the car. They ran inside and started the car, John drove straight through their attackers nocking over a few in the process as Elizabeth continued to fire out of the window until they were out of sight.

Less than a mile later they stopped and ditched the car, stealing a new one to take them to the motel. John just hoped they'd done enough to get the firms to back off.

* * *

It rang several times before anyone picked up, the woman on the other end answered cheerfully with a fake name. Elizabeth looked at John, this was the moment of truth, if plan B had worked or not, they were about to find out and if it hadn't John had already agreed to Plan C, split up and run. She didn't like it anymore than he did but at least it would give them a chance and maybe they could meet up again somewhere down the line, when it was safe.

"This is Elizabeth Weir, put me through to the boss," she stated knowing the name would get immediate attention.

"Just a moment," the woman replied, faked cheeriness gone and nervousness in its place. There were several beeps on the phone line, the call was being traced, it didn't matter, either this worked or both she and John would be long gone by the time anyone got here.

"Miss Weir," came a new female voice, she'd only heard it once before when she'd been given a big assignment. "To what do I owe the pleasure?"

"By now you've made a body count and I know some of ours were there, how many did you lose?" Elizabeth questioned and there was silence on the other end of the line for several moments.

"Enough," the voice replied.

"Here's the deal," Elizabeth told her, the longer she was on this call the longer they had to track her and send a team in. "You leave us alone and we leave you alone. If you send anyone else after us we'll kill them and then we'll come after you. You know my record so you know that if I wanted to I could find you and have a bullet in your head before you even knew I was there."

"What makes you think I couldn't stop you?"

"Want to try?" Elizabeth asked but didn't get an answer. "We end this now and no one else has to die, do we have a deal?"

Elizabeth could practically feel the tension coming off John at that moment and it only made her own worse. Everything hinged on this moment, whatever the boss said next would decide everything and she crossed the fingers of her spare hand as she waited for an answer.

"We have a deal, the firm will leave both you and Sheppard alone; in exchange you leave us alone."

"Goodbye."

She hung up the phone and John continued to look at her expectantly, waiting for her to tell him what the answer had been. She looked him in the eye and she could tell from the look on his face he was assuming the worst. She smiled slightly and decided to put him out of his misery.

"They agreed," she told him and he let out a breath of relief and kissed her. "Now we just have to get your firm to agree and hopefully we'll be home free."

"Hand me the phone."

* * *

They were still decorating the new house, the old one had been trashed both by their fight and then by the firms. They'd decided moving would be better anyway and so they'd bought a new house at the other side of the city. The firms had both stuck to their end of the deal, no one else had been sent after them in the last month and they were finally reaching the point where they weren't looking over their shoulders every few seconds.

"Elizabeth, what the hell are those?" John questioned as he walked into the room.

"They're curtains," Elizabeth informed him.

"They're hideous," he replied giving them a disgusted look. "We are not keeping those."

"Yes, we are," she told him. "You said you didn't want anything to do with finding furnishings so you don't get to have a say now."

"No," John said. "You told me I wasn't allowed anything to do with finding the furnishings and I said you could do it by yourself then."

"I only said that because you were just picking everything at random," she reminded him and John sighed.

"I was getting bored with looking at colour scales and tape measures, it doesn't all have to be perfect Elizabeth," he pointed out. He wondered if this argument was ever going to get old, it didn't matter what they were fighting about specifically it always came down to her planning to much and him not planning enough.

"It has to look right though, we can't have light wood tables with dark wood chairs," she stated.

"You know what," John began and walked over to her. He picked her up and headed out of the room toward the stairs. "I don't care; have the room however you want it."

He dropped her on the bed in the bedroom and kissed her. He figured it would be him backing down more often than her in their arguments but if it saved them another round of bickering then so much the better.

"I can think of far better things to do than argue about curtains," he told her and kissed her again, she wrapped her arms around his neck and pulled him closer mumbling something about winning. He thought about going back to the argument just to stop her being smug but then she deepened the kiss and started unbuttoning his shirt and he decided arguing could definitely wait.

* * *

The man was wearing an expensive suit, a very dark blue with barely visible lines running down it at regular intervals. His hair was gelled back and his face showed signs of plastic surgery, a bid to look younger than he actually was. He sat on the other side of the desk, his back straight and his eyes focused on them. He was a confident man who knew he was offering something that would appeal to both the people in front of him.

"I understand you'd be reluctant to trust us, recent events have given you every reason not to but we're not like the other firms. We have no gender preference and your personal lives our none of our business. Our only concern is that you do the jobs you're given and you do them well, from what I've seen and heard there's no one in the business who does that better than the two of you," the man told them. "Mr Sheppard, Mrs Sheppard, what I'm offering you is positions in our firm doing exactly what you were doing before, exactly what you're good at."

John and Elizabeth looked at each other and smiled. "Where do we sign up?"

THE END.


End file.
